Preview of Texas math textbooks finds 109,000 errors

By Gary Scharrer |
November 16, 2007

AUSTIN — Sample copies of Texas elementary math textbooks for next fall contain more than 109,000 factual errors. While that sounds like a big number, it's not necessarily a big problem at this point in the process.

And it's not as if the publishers fouled up a ton of simple addition or subtraction problems, though there are some. One second-grade math book, for example, has 4 plus 7 equaling 10.

The textbooks are expected to be error-free by the time they hit the classrooms, said Anita Givens, senior director of educational technology at the Texas Education Agency.

The State Board of Education, which reviews and approves a range of books and then allows local districts to choose specific texts, fines publishers $5,000 for each goof.

"So there's a strong incentive to correct all of those errors before the final copy," Givens said Thursday.

"The board has put such a rigorous process in place and a significant fine so there's an incentive for publishers to really do diligence and make sure that the final copy of subject material is error free," she said.

Many of the math book errors resulted in faulty translation from English to Spanish language textbooks, Givens said. Some of the student editions also improperly included answers to chapter quizzes.

"So every time there was an answer in the students' editions that shouldn't have been there, that's an error," Givens said.

The errors are spread out over 164 elementary math textbooks and online products that will be available for Texas schools to choose from next year. About 1.8 million Texas children attend elementary school this year.

Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Co. is responsible for 79 percent of the 109,263 factual errors in the math textbooks, including both student and teacher materials.

"It does appear that we had one publisher that won the sweepstakes," said state board member Bob Craig of Lubbock.

How can you make 86,026 errors, Craig asked of Houghton Mifflin. Officials did not return phone calls Thursday.

Houghton Mifflin submitted more products than any of the other seven publishers, Givens said, which partially explains their standing as the company with the most errors.

Errors in textbooks are fairly rare by the time they reach students, Givens said. Final, error-free books are due from the publishers in May.

"The last time we had any errors that were identified after they hit the classrooms was in 2005. We found one," Givens said.

Publishing companies are required to identify errors in their sample products. A state panel created to examine textbooks flags most of the mistakes, she said.

Publishers had less time this year to submit sample textbook copies.

"We are disappointed that there are so many (errors) because it's a large number, but the shortened development time is one of the primary reasons that we saw that many errors," Givens said.